101149 | FRANCE & EGYPT. Napoléon I bronze Medal.

101149 | FRANCE & EGYPT. Napoléon I bronze Medal. Issued 1841-1842. The conquest of Egypt and the Pyramids (41mm, 31.90 g, 12h). By A. Bovy at the Paris Mint.

 

BONAPARTE GENERAL EN CHEF, uniformed bust right / SOLDATS! DU HAUT DE CES PYRAMIDES 40 SIECLES NOUS CONTEMPLENT (Soldiers! The pyramids, here for four millennia, must now bow to us), Napoléon, raising hand, on horse rearing right; troops standing around in attention; pyramids at a distance in the background. Edge: «Ancre et C» CUIVRE (doubled).

 

Julius 626; Zeitz –; Todd p. 81. Gem Mint State. Flawless deep glossy brown surfaces, with tremendous brilliance. A scarce and historically important medal, incredibly difficult to acquire this attractive.

 

A fantastic type recounting Napoléon's Egyptian campaign from 1798, this piece commemorates an alleged message delivered to his troops. As the legendary speech didn't appear on medals contemporaneous to the campaign, it is more probable that he did not utter such fanciful words to his soldiers, with this instead being a bit of artistic license by Bovy.

 

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